Frank reports that Castillo was called into Andy Reid’s office this morning, and was given the news. He will no longer be with the team in any capacity.

Castillo, who has been with the Eagles since 1995, was an odd fit from the start, moving from coaching offensive line coach to defensive coordinator prior to the 2011 season. He replaced Sean McDermott, who struggled with replacing the late Jim Johnson, before being let go to join Ron Rivera in Carolina.

The Eagles have since announced the move, saying Todd Bowles will take over Castillo’s old job.

“We’re six games into the season and average isn’t good enough. I know the potential of our team and insist on maximizing it,” Reid said in a statement from the team.

This is a typical Philadelphia Eagles move. You can blame the defense all you want, but, when the offense is turning the ball over at a rapid pace, the defense is being called on to clean up the mess. The ‘wide-9’ technique isn’t fooling people anymore and Juan Castillo isn’t able to make the appropriate changes because he’s an offensive line coach playing make pretend everyday.

Andy Reid should be held accountable for all of this, but, like usual he has others pay the price. Michael Vick and Andy Reid should be handed a plane ticket to anywhere they want with the destination being somewhere other than Philly.

That’s what you get for taking Nnamdi off of Megatron in the 4th quarter. Nnamdi shut him down the whole game until that bone headed move. We all know what happened after that. A 10 point lead with five minutes left should be enough to win, in fact 95% of the time it is but not when Juan stops doing what’s working for no good reason.

I’d love to see Moronwheg fired as well but that will most likely come after the season. Bowles is a far better defensive coordinator than Castillo, maybe he can design some blitzes that actually work.

Our defensive line has gone three straight games without a sack, the longest drought since 1981 I believe. People saying he’s the “scapegoat” are very wrong. He’s been awful at this for two years, the Eagles have top five defensive talent, it’s about time somebody maximizes that potential.

I’m sorry, but the defense is ranked something like 12th overall and 12th in points allowed. That is even with the offense turning it over multiple times a game, and not to mention the number of three and outs the offense also tacks on there.

How does any solution begin with, fire the defensive coordinator and not replace the QB???

Andy needs to blame someone but he needs to blame himself. He gave Castillo the job knowing that he wasn’t qualified – and then fires him for not being able to do the job. These are the desperate moves of a desperate man – Andy’s job is on the line and he knows it.

His whole moving from the offensive side to the defensive side was perplexing to say the least. But this move is definitely a classic example of a Red Herring tactic. The real culprit is Vick and everyone knows it. Another issue is that Vick isn’t looking like the Vick of old. He’s just looking old.
I don’t hold a lot of sympathy for Eagles fans whose arrogance is totally unwarranted considering they’re the only team in their division without any hardware but having all that talent and nothing to show has got to be torture.

It’s about damn time, that D-line should be playing at a higher level led by Cole & Babin. Jenkins is exactly what GB has been missing and Cox is the 3rd best DT as a rookie according to Pro Football Focus.

The secondary should be playing man defense, DRC is having a great season and Asomugha is strictly a cover corner (held Calvin Johnson to 1 catch while getting an interception). The zone scheme didn’t fit the personnel. Adding Ryans in the middle of the defense along with the rookie Kendricks who is getting the job done against tight ends…of course they have to step up, but so far they have carried the Eagles anemic offense to 3-3.

Offense is a different story, this is a start for Coach Reid if he plans on making a playoff run and sticking around Philly.

I honestly feel bad for the guy. Whether it was his idea or not it was such a weird change from O line to DC. I think he struggled last year but it definitely improved since then. Like someone said, the defence is exponentially better than the O, considering they spend crazy amounts of time on the field because of the large amount of turnovers. Wrong move in my opinion. The Philly Eagles are in the market for a new HC and QB this coming off-season.

Horrible. How can you pin the losses on the defence? Sure the Wide 9 hasnt been fabulous, but its been better. It’s kinda hard to play tenacious defence all game long when you’re defensive unit is on the field all the time due to the large amount of turnovers and three and outs. Im a huge Eagles fan, and Ive always supported Reid, but Im done. The two fourth quarter collapses the last two weeks fall solely on Reid/Mornhinweg. Horrible playcalling. Horrible decision making. You have a 10 point lead late in the 4th quarter and instead of feeding the ball to the top 5 in the NFL running back, you put the ball in Vick’s hands? Foolish. I’ve tried so hard to believe in Vick/Reid, but I dont anymore. This team is wasting a ton of talent. It’s time to change the scenery in Philadelphia. Period.

Reid/Mornhinweg/Vick all need to go.

Good luck Juan. You were a trooper doing what was asked of you. Its just a shame you had to be the fall guy for the fatman. He’s an idiot.

I know alot of people call for Reid’s head, but let’s just take a moment to remember what the Eagles were like before to Philly. We get mad when they don’t make playoffs because he msde us used to getting there. Remember Marion Campbel, Rich Kotite and Ray Rhodes? I think Reid has earned somesome time to right the ship. Vick is the one that has worn out his way overpaid time at qb. At least if Foles is in and making mistakes, you can chalk it up to rookie mistakes. Vick is still making rookie mistakes and is clearly not able to fix it.

He never should have been hired as DC in the first place. Andy put him in a position where he was likely to fail. Should have been an experienced guy and maybe last year would have been different. That being said if Andy can’t change hiw offense to something with quicker plays he should go too before Vick is killed!

I like that Andy Reid doesn’t like average. Now that he’s fired the defensive co-ordinator for being 15th in the league he can turn his attention to the offensive where the Eagles are 27th in the league. Because, if 15th is unacceptable, how can 27th still have a job? Andy Reid should have resigned at the start of the season.

this team just stinks from top to bottom , over rated , over hyped ,
over praised …. the media darlings have fallen hard on their face .. D is not the problem , legue leading 17 turnovers in 6 games , bigger problems in philthy !

Classic deflecting move. Politicians do it all the time. It’s a tactic to change the narrative and take the focus off of someone (in this case, Reid/Morhinweg/Vick) who has been the subject of negative scrutiny.

I don’t disagree with this move, however. Really thought Reid missed an opportunity to hire an experienced DC last winter because he hasn’t been the same since Johnson died.

This move makes little to no sense – Castillo’s defense is the reason why the Eagles are even 3-3 at this point… And I am in no way a fan of Castillo or believe he should have even been brought back this year…

Ultimately though, Andy felt that some heads had to roll and he refuses to downgrade his boy Marty, won’t downgrade Vick because he believes that Vick gives him the best shot at the playoffs and saving his job (although the fact that Vick turns the ball over at the rate of a rookie – it could be argued that Foles could not be any worse).

So Castillo goes, at this point undeservedly so, but regardless, this is a sinking ship. Hopefully, they fall out instead of playing mediocre enough football to contend… Would rather see what they have in Foles than go into the offseason with an unknown there…

That can’t make Reid feel to good. Not even half way through the season and they’re firing guys. Reid knows he’s next and Vick should be going with him. Collapse of the Eagles haha good news to a Skins fan

5xchamp says:
Oct 16, 2012 10:18 AM
this team just stinks from top to bottom , over rated , over hyped ,
over praised …. the media darlings have fallen hard on their face .. D is not the problem , legue leading 17 turnovers in 6 games , bigger problems in philthy !

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You sound like a classy, upstanding citizen there. When have the Eagles EVER been media darlings? lol

Someone sounds bitter to me. The team doesnt stink. Not at all. There is a ton of talent just going to waste with bad playcalling and a terrible QB. Definitely dont stink though.

Castillo, who by all accounts is a stand-up man, should never have been put into this position to fail. His only DC experience was on the high school level.

Instead of searching out someone with a true defensive pedigree Reid told everyone that Castillo was the best candidate for the job, and obviously he wasn’t.

Additionally, week in and week out Reid makes decisions that just seem to make no sense. As someone who watches alot of football, I sit in almost disbelief as the Eagles insist on throwing the ball late in games with a lead, with a tremendous running back a non-factor.

I don’t know the exact number, but I would bet Reid has cost himself double digit wins over his tenure by doing this.

Reid has been a media darling for many years, but I get a feeling that will be changing over the next several weeks.

Much like the McNabb situation, the national media’s perception of Reid is going to wind up being much more in sync with most of the Eagle faithful and local writers/media.

That said, should Reid and the Eagles part ways I think he will have his choice of jobs and most probably winds up in SD when Norv gets canned for the same kind of transgressions and inability to close the deal as Andy.

He’s been a good soldier for that organization for 17 years and now, two years after being foolishly promoted to a position that was entirely out of his professional depth, he’s cast out of the organization altogether?

I don’t see why he couldn’t have been reassigned. Well, reason number #458 why I stopped being an Eagles fan about midway through Andy Reid’s Reign of Error.

I disagree with the typical Andy move. And using scape goats. Juan’s defense has been decent. But 1 sack in the past 4 games in ridiculous. Eagles defense has always been known to cause turnovers . An that hasn’t been the case since jj passed. I think it was a good move. I think it puts everyone on notice. But I do agree Andy deserves his share. But this is not a typical Andy move he usually does not do stuff like this.

I know alot of people call for Reid’s head, but let’s just take a moment to remember what the Eagles were like before to Philly. We get mad when they don’t make playoffs because he msde us used to getting there. Remember Marion Campbel, Rich Kotite and Ray Rhodes? I think Reid has earned somesome time to right the ship.
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King Andy has had 13 years to win a SB. Eagles are 1-4 in NFC Championship games and were favorites in 4 of them. Lost only SB appearance. His overall playoff record is now 10-8. They haven’t won a playoff game since 2008. And you think he’s earned some time to right the ship?

I said all along Castillo couldn’t run or pass but nobody listened to me.
Should be a lot of other firings to go along with it.

Too may prima-dona’s on this team to get them to gel. They all want to be individual stars and not team players. Sounds like I’m talking about the Yankee’s. Anyways this is Reids problem and has been getting all those top guys to play like a team. He failed, needs to go to.

Now, it’s time for the big mouth dog nnamdi, who’s comments helped this firing along whether it was deserved or not, to play like the alleged shut down corner he was touted as…to this point, the guy is a flat out dog and a disappointing big mouth, shut up and cover somebody.

I just don’t get it. I watched Vick for the first time this year and easily could see his talents have waned. His arm isn’t strong, he has lost a step and in indicisive in the pocket.
The only thing I can figure is, his backup probably sucks worse.

I wish nothing but the best for Juan Castillo. He was (and still is) a great coach.

Given that the offense has been turning the ball over like mad since Juan Castillo has taken over defensive duties and he has still been able to lead top ten defenses is nothing short of amazing.

I wouldn’t have liked this move had Todd Bowles not been the replacement. He was poised for a defensive coordinator role with the dolphins a few seasons ago after performing well as their interim head coach.

For this defensive line to have zero sacks in the last 3 games in criminal. No one had confidence late in the game for Castillo to make the right calls. He was average at best, and that is not good enough in Philly.

Castillo was a d-line coach in college… funny how no one mentions that. Sorry, but the eagles just dont have the talent up front… you can blame the coach all yu want, but he’s just a scapegoat for having average players on the d-line

eaglesw00t says,
you sound like a classy, upstanding citizen there. When have the Eagles EVER been media darlings? lol

Someone sounds bitter to me. The team doesnt stink. Not at all. There is a ton of talent just going to waste with bad playcalling and a terrible QB. Definitely dont stink though.
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well woot, I would like to think I am a upstanding citizen ..pay taxes , employed in the municipal sector ,
mortgage ect….. don’t kno what that has to do with the fact that this team STINKS ! yeah they have talent … but so did the Phills , 4 aces and all, Flyers ect … yeah ur QB is a problem too , but why would I be bitter ? I live in bucks co.
and deal with this team on a daily basis as well , just don’t kno how u can dispute that this collection of mediocre talent are not media darlings?
everyone’s SB pick yet they fail to meet expectations …. perhaps it Mabey you who is bitter , not with me , per se …. but this collection of over rated talent that you call your egirls …. guess I would pissed too
hahahahaha ! your team stinks !

I feel bad for JC. He was thrown to the wolves. If Reid was replacing a coordinator for being mediocre, the logical choice would have been the coordinator operating the 30th ranked offense, not the guy running the 13th ranked defense that has literally kept the team competitive.

I get what you are saying, I really do. I have wanted Reid’s head on a platter several times throughout his tenure. However, the only other available coach out there that consistently drafted good talent and won, is Bill Cowher. Outside of him, who? Jon Gruden? Gruden became coach of an already good team, but things went south after winning the Superbowl and could not sustain it. Of course, at this point judt one Superbowl would be nice. So unless it’s one of those guys, be careful what you wish for, we may get another Marion Campbell.

I cant understand why everyone is thinking this is a bad move to fire the DC. I know the offense is struggling and needs to step up but the defense has struggled. The reason why Juan is gone (* even if he was ranked in the top 15) was because he ran a vanilla defense. He couldnt make decisions on the go as a defensive coordinator thats been doing it for years would. His blitz packages were predictable and he couldnt disguise them. And the reason for that was because he is not ready to be a DC yet. The reason why we ranked up there in defense is because of the talent wehave, now imagine what Bowles can do with this defense, a defensive coach with all this talent, looks like we could be top 5 maybe even top 3. This is only 1 move so far, Reid probably looked at the defense first and Im sure there are more moves on the way. Fire Marty I highly doubt that but hey who knows at this point, but Im sure he is looking at everything right now. Reid is an offensive coach and if he were to fire Marty he could call the offensive plays and hire an interim OC to work beside him, but if he were to do that then he would take all the heat if the offense didnt do good. I think this is a great move ( Going to miss Juan, hope he finds a new home soon) and it is going to make the coaches and players think twice about things going forward, and maybe this is just what the Eagles needed to jump start the second half of the season

The Pats need to double fire theirs. The guy has a female name as his sir name for crying out loud. ‘Patricia’, really? No wonder the secondary plays like a whole bunch of lingerie models. The Lingerie Football League female players can cover better than these patricia’s models.